White knight who brought down the Red king

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The chess matches between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov are a metaphor for the downfall of the USSR

In 1984 Garry Kasparov, the last Soviet and the first post-Soviet world champion, made his mark by challenging Anatoly Karpov, the personification of the Soviet school of chess, in a match that began in September. Six months later, on March 10, 1985, a leader emerged who would preside over the dismantling of the Soviet political system: Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet head of state.

Seven years and four more Karpov-Kasparov matches later, the Soviet Union was history. Kasparov was the first Soviet world champion who refused to obey the USSR Chess Federation and the Sports Committee, first by appealing over